Quintero
Played Quintero in 2011 with my buddies Ron and Johnny Cocktails. Quintero was a master-planned private golf-residential community a few exits north of nowhere in Peoria, AZ. I’m assuming the master plan wasn’t to get foreclosed on, but that’s what happened. When I played shortly after it was bought out of foreclosure and went public, there were still only a few homes on the property meaning the golf course had wide open vistas with nary a home to block the view. The clubhouse was temporary and the ride to the first tee required a gas stop and restroom break (kidding, kind of). I hear not much has changed.
Quintero is now under Troon Management. Not sure if there are more homes there now and I assume they haven’t built the clubhouse yet as the site would’ve mentioned it. Put all of this aside and play the course. It is great! Quintero is a Rees Jones design and features some dramatic elevation changes – especially on the par threes. The ninth and sixth are my favorites on the course. Both are par threes. The 8th is a par five brute where you need to bang a drive as far as you can to cut almost perpendicular across some desert to a second fairway that is tight, tight, tight. Oh did I mention from the silver tees (6,401 yards) it’s 533 yards?
Quintero gets some decent love from the golf magazine and website rankers. It really is a great desert mountain course but I’m surprised the traditionalists like it as you cannot walk the course and the cart paths here are omnipresent and look a little out of place – you’ll see in the photos below.
I guess they are promoting that you can stay at one of the houses up here now (if you can’t sell ’em, rent ’em). My advice? Quintero is out of the way. There is nothing up there but desert critters at night. If you want to pack a whole lot of food and isolate yourself and your buddies/family away from society, go right ahead and do that Ted Kaczynsky. If you’re hellbent on staying on this northwest side of Phoenix (maybe if you’re going to a Cardinals or Coyotes game) I’d get closer to Glendale. There’s actually a Renaissance right at the stadium and a great restaurant/entertainment district located at the stadium complex. Mind you, you’re talking bar grub, and chains but it’s all good in the ‘hood for a casual long weekend. Take the ride up to Quintero from there – it’s about a 45 minute ride.
I rarely hang out on this side of the metro area so can’t give you much advice. If you have the connections, Blackstone is a great private track that’ll give you the same kind of uninterrupted desert views as Quintero (about 20 minutes from the stadium complex). Estrella is further south and is ranked pretty highly though I have never been. I played Stardust out this way, and I think the below sums up that course.
You can also stay in downtown Phoenix. This will make the Quintero ride about an hour-and-a-half long but you now have better public golf options nearby – the Raven, Arizona Grand, Papago – but this is only if you’re burned out on doing the Scottsdale thing and want to shake it up. Downtown-wise The Kettle Black was a cool bar and Mancuso’s is a great steakhouse.
Golf Scrapbook 